POVERTY: SE Asia: children drown

An invisible epidemic?

• Tasc estimates that in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Thailand and Vietnam drowning is responsible for around one in four deaths of children under nine
• There is a link to poverty - in poor countries, child-care often falls to siblings or grandparents
• 80% of children drownings of children under the age of four occur within 20 metres of the home
• In some countries, drowned children are never admitted to hospital and are therefore not counted